'Is This Justice?': Muslim Auto Driver's House Bulldozed After Tenant's Minor Son Injures Classmate

Jaipur: In February 2019, Rashid Khan decided to purchase a single-storey house in Khanjipeer – a locality named after Khanji Feer, a 17th century Dawoodi Bohra saint, in Rajasthan’s Udaipur and populated predominantly by residents from the Muslim community.

Khan had saved money from his income as an autorickshaw driver ferrying passengers everyday for many years and also took a loan from his acquaintances to arrange the amount of around Rs 17 lakh that he paid to the family of Shafi Mohammad, who earlier had possession of the house.

On August 17, 2024, Khan, 60, watched as bulldozers demolished the house on the orders of the Udaipur district administration and the Rajasthan Forest Department, just a day after the 15-year-old son of a man who lived as a tenant in the house and paid rent to Khan, allegedly stabbed and injured his classmate at a city school over a dispute.

“How is it justice that a house is demolished because the son of the tenant living in it has committed a crime? I am the owner of the house and the family of the accused was living as rented tenants. Why is the punishment of a crime committed by one person given to me? If the administration says that the house is illegal, why did it wake up just after this incident? They demolished the house on a day’s notice,” Khan told The Wire.

The dispute between the minor accused (a Muslim) and the minor victim (a Hindu) – both students of class 10 – had turned communal after Hindu outfits staged massive protests. As an angry mob set fire to several cars and closed markets, the Udaipur district administration issued prohibitory orders banning the assembly of people and also shut down mobile internet.

“We received information about a dispute between two kids. One of the kids was attacked with a knife. Since the injury was deep, the boy had to be referred to hospital immediately. He is presently in the ICU and his condition is stable,” Udaipur District Collector Arvind Poswal had told reporters on August 16, the day of the incident.

Poswal had also appealed to the public to not pay heed to rumour and maintain peace so that communal harmony is not disrupted.

Hindu outfits, BJP MLA call for ‘bulldozer action’

As the angry mob along with Hindu groups converged outside the hospital where the student is being treated, the call grew for ‘bulldozer action.’

Soon, the demand for the use of bulldozers was echoed by public representatives.

“I believe that the Bhajan Lal government has done bulldozer action previously as well and it will again be used against such criminals. It should be used so that such criminals are taught a lesson,” Phool Singh Meena, BJP MLA from Udaipur rural told reporters after the incident.

Amid calls for ‘bulldozer action’, on August 16 – the same day when the Hindu student was stabbed – the office of the Regional Forest Officer, Udaipur West issued a notice in the name of the father of the minor accused.

The notice said that the area where the house has been constructed is protected forest land and carrying out construction work in the place is illegal and amounts to encroaching and harming the original form of the protected forest land, which is a violation of the Rajasthan Forest Act, 1953 and Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956.

“Therefore, you are being informed through this notice that you voluntarily remove the encroached structure built on forest land by 20.08.2024. If you yourself don’t remove the aforementioned encroachment sand, stones, pucca constructions from the forest land, then the department will oust you from the forest land and action will be taken to remove encroachments from the forest land,” says the notice in Hindi issued by the Forest Department.

‘How can an encroachment notice be addressed to a tenant and not the owner?’

Khan, who purchased the house in 2019, says that he got to know on the morning of August 17 that the notice has been pasted on the house.

“How can an encroachment notice be addressed to a tenant and not the owner of the house. After knowing about the notice, I visited numerous government offices including the district collectorate. But in most places, I was told that the offices were closed because August 17 was a holiday. Around the afternoon, despite the notice giving time till August 20, the bulldozers arrived to demolish the house on August 17. If it was a case of the house being illegal, why didn’t the administration wake up before?,” says Khan.

Khan says that he repaid  the loan he took for purchasing the house in 2022. The Wire has accessed the sale agreement between Khan and Shafi Mohammad made on February 26 2019. The agreement has a condition that if in future the colony is legalised and plots are allotted, Khan will be entitled to get it issued in his name by account of being the owner.

“All the other houses near the house where I stay have been built on forest land and nobody has got approval for construction. At present the procedure of issuing pattas for these kacchi bastis (slums) is under process at the state government level. The notice has been issued to the person who lives at my house as a tenant, which is not right. I am a poor auto driver and manage to make ends meet for my family with difficulty,” says a memorandum prepared by Khan on August 17, the day of the demolition.

Apart from the family of the accused minor boy, Abid Khan, a resident of Bihar’s Araria district who earns his living by selling tea near the Udaipur railways station also lived as a tenant in the demolished house.

“I have been staying at the house since the past few years and paid a rent of Rs. 3,000. Ever since the demolition, we are struggling to find a new accommodation. My youngest daughter is less than a year old. We are presently living with my brother and searching for a new rented accommodation. Many of our belongings were lost during the demolition,” Abid said.

After the demolition, Udaipur district collector Poswal told reporters that “all rules have been followed.”

“The information had come out in due investigation that the house of the accused was constructed on forest land. If something (illegal) comes to the knowledge of the administration, actions need to be taken. The action has been taken legally after giving proper notice and taking both the communities into confidence,” said Poswal.

However, Khan asks that why did the administration carry out the demolition only after the incident, wherein thousands of families are staying in Khanjipeer since many decades without the Forest Department making much ado about it.

Officials say no communal angle to attack 

Activists have slammed the demolition of the house and termed the action as “nothing less than goonda raj.”

“In Rajasthan, it is common knowledge that many houses are built on lands like Gochar Bhumi (pasture land) or Mandir Maafi. The government selectively uses these as excuses to carry out demolitions. When a crime takes place, the law mandates that the police conduct an impartial investigation, followed by a fair trial in competent courts. Unfortunately, these principles seem to exist only on paper now,” said Akhil Chaudhary, advocate and human rights activist.

Udaipur Divisional Commissioner Rajendra Bhatt told The Wire that prima facie, no communal angle has come up behind the stabbing of the boy by the accused. Bhatt termed it as a dispute between two students.

“We got to know that the previous person who had possession of the house had sold it for Rs. 17 lakh. Thereafter the notice was issued in the name of the father of the accused, who presently had possession and was staying at the house,” said Bhatt.

Bhatt added that while the minor accused has been detained and sent to a correctional home for children in conflict of law, his father is being questioned by the police.

“I have incurred a great loss as a result of the demolition of the house. I should get a compensation. The person who has stabbed the boy must be punished, but demolishing my house is not justice,” says Khan.